This is possibly the biggest boost to gaming on the Mac since the move to an Intel architecture, especially given that Valve is bringing its entire Source-powered line-up of games with it on launch, without needing to buy another copy. I expect to see the quite lengthy list of games on Steam which already have a Mac port move over in the near future as well.

And now, some eye candy.

Oddly, quite a few people take a dim view of this proposed exception from the law of the land on religious grounds. Now, I’m all in favour of religious tolerance – I honestly don’t care which faith someone is. I have no problem with religious practice such as obligatory prayer at specific times of day (as long as they don’t stop to pray right where I intend to walk). You can wear whatever combination of clothing, charms, symbols and paraphernalia you want – as long as (and here’s the important bit) it doesn’t break the rules.

As an example – religious symbols in schools. Schools tend to have a ‘no jewellery’ rule, with an exception in place for a watch. Some go as far as an exception for a single stud earring.  This is not religious discrimination by stopping a particular faith from wearing a symbol, this is a blanket rule.

Next – covering the face in places such as banks. A general rule is that if you enter a bank or other such place where items of value are exchanged (such as parcel depots), you uncover your face. Take off your motorcycle helmet, put down your hood, that kind of thing. Such places should (in an ideal world) be well within their rights to refuse entry to anybody who does not uncover their face, be that covering part of the person’s religion or not. It’s not intolerance, it’s a blanket rule.

Now, to the issue of the Kirpan. It’s a knife. Knives are (generally speaking) against the law if carried in public. There are some exceptions in place for roles where a knife is justified. Divers are allowed to carry knives when diving in case they need to cut themselves or a partner loose from something they’re caught in. Scouts and other outdoor pursuit groups (above a certain age) are allowed to carry knives where there is just cause – for example when on backwoods camping – although sadly a sheath knife is no longer part of dress uniform.

You will note that religion does not count as a justification – by the same argument that “the knife is never used” the knife has no use, hence no reason to be there. The law of the land says “no knives without justification”, so it shouldn’t be worn. Simple.

UK law allows me to throw away my used razor blades, but I wouldn’t go to Connecticut and expect to be able to do the same (No, seriously, Connecticut law says you can’t dispose of used razor blades). When in Rome…

So when our train pulled up at King’s Cross (East Coast first class, nice complimentary tea and coffee) we duly meandered to the Underground station, only to find that since our last visit it had moved. Northern line now exclusively departed from a brand new and very shiny ticket hall. Since our Oyster topups were nominated to be waiting at the Northern/Victoria/Picadilly barrier I smartly swiped my card at the new barriers and walked through. Claire, on the other hand, was stuck. No topup waiting and not enough balance to get through the barrier. Oops.

I then had to touch back out at the same station (incurring a “WTF are you doing?” charge) whilst we sorted the mess out. Gate assistance staff told us to speak to the ticket office, who then gave us some weird advice. Apparently our topup for Northern/Victoria/Picadilly was waiting at the other (older) barriers from which we couldn’t get to the Northern line we so desired. The solution was for us to walk to the barriers at the other end of the station, explain to the gate staff what was going on, touch in (beginning Claire’s journey and acquiring the topup) then walk back and get the gate staff to just whisk us through without touching again.

Fortunately, before being whisked through the barrier I was smart enough to check with the ticket office about the state of my in/out at the same barrier, and the nice man removed my stray transaction so I was back to my original balance with no journeys in progress. As a result of this I got a receipt detailing my £9.50 balance. “Odd”, I thought. “I had £9.50 before, and should have a £10 topup on top of that. Balls”.

It transpired that my topup wasn’t on the Northern/Victoria/Picadilly barrier at King’s Cross, but like Claire’s was on the Northern/Victoria/Picadilly barrier at King’s Cross. Another yomp across the station, explain it to the guards, touch in (we are now both touched in at King’s Cross) and yomp back so we could be waved through sans-touch and get underway.

Apparently this is a recurring issue caused by the new barriers being confused. Annoyingly there is no indication of a problem with the topup not being at the barrier you may expect unless you either a) don’t have enough credit on your card to begin a journey; or b) pay close attention to what the gate tells you about your balance as you rush past. If Claire’s card hadn’t failed to work then we would both have been on our way without our topups, leading to calamity later in the trip.

My inner child is screaming at me to get this the very moment that preordering is available – I just hope they have cross-platform compatibility (OS X version please).

In other news, I’m having all kinds of trouble repartitioning my hard disk to install Windows 7 as my Boot Camp OS. I’ve decided to migrate from Windows XP after many years of faithful service, simply because it needed formatting and Windows 7 is just as good (and infinitely better than Vista). I might be due a proper defragment and try again.

There are also games. Here are a couple of my favourites. You can now vote with the back of your hand and Slap Nick Griffin (sound warning!), or for the more puerile amongst you there’s an opportunity to take advantage of the Dick Griffin witticism.

Don’t you love the internet?

Seriously guys, it looks exactly like an Apple store. Clean lines, uncluttered displays of hardware, employees in bright t-shirts with name badges on lanyards…

Question Time is principally a platform for political parties to engage in televised debate and (as the name implies) answering of questions from the general public. The BNP, like it or not, is a political party in this country.

Now, don’t confuse this support for their appearance on the show with support for what the BNP stand for. As far as I am concerned (and which the evidence tends to support) they are lying, racist white supremacists. However, I will defend their right to argue their point in an open venue, because I suspect they’ll come out of the other side feeling a bit more bruised than they expect.

Knowing what David Dimbleby has been like in the past with ‘fringe’ political parties Mr. Griffin will get very, very little leeway in pushing an agenda outside of the questions he is asked to field. I suspect that the BNP’s policies will be called into question by other panel members and then ripped apart by the reactions of the studio audience. All on live TV, with the whole of Britain watching.

Sure they’ll get a bit of airtime as a ‘genuine’ political party, but unlike most ‘genuine’ political parties the BNP probably won’t have much in the way of policy with which to respond.

Incidentally if you’re into this sort of thing you can follow Question Time on Twitter (@bbcquestiontime).

Thanks to The Next Web. The same flowchart also applies to Papyrus and Curlz.